“Do you know what I think? My life has been truly blessed!” Linda (Holliday) Labrie shared these thoughts with our family shortly before her peaceful passing on July 2, 2023.
Everett and Halgert (Heriem) Holliday welcomed Linda on May 20, 1940, into their pioneering family on a cattle ranch near Martinsdale, Montana. Linda and her younger sister, Donna (Holliday) Schupak, attended a one-room schoolhouse and were fully engaged in 4-H as they grew up on the ranch. Linda attended White Sulfur Springs High School and then graduated from Montana State University (MSU Bozeman) with a bachelor’s degree in home economics and a minor in art. She later acquired certificates in early childhood and adult education and was a Master catechist in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
During her first teaching position in Whitehall, MT, and due to her extensive involvement with 4-H, she was recruited to represent Montana as a peace ambassador to Turkey by the International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE). She was forever thankful for that opportunity as the IFYE mission is to “promote world peace through exchange opportunities for mutual understanding,” which remained a focus throughout her entire life. This led to her and Jack opening their home to nine high school exchange students from all over the world who each spent a year with our family.
While at MSU, she met Jack Labrie, and three months later, they were engaged. They were married in 1963 and settled down in California (Glendale/La Cañada). Linda was a devoted and fun-loving mother. For over 20 years, she taught at and directed a cooperative nursery school, where “Miss Linda” was passionate in providing a strong, creative, play-based program for children and their parents who dearly loved her.
Linda grew up loving music, taking both piano and voice lessons. She sang for her students, religious education programs, church, and family and friends. She cherished her choirs and faith communities at both Holy Redeemer and St. Bede. For years, she and Jack taught religious education to children and to adults seeking catechist certification, and they were also actively involved in many other faith-based programs. To Linda, song is prayer, and faith is action.
Linda was an opinionated and bold justice-seeker. She was a committed advocate for the mentally ill and spent years serving as a local leader for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). She and Jack worked to promote legislation for compassionate care for the seriously mentally ill in California at the county and state levels. She facilitated the Care and Share group for families and friends at NAMI-SGV and promoted dignified work opportunities for the mentally ill.
She was a woman of great conviction, compassion, faith, and passion but she will be remembered and missed most for all the laughter and love she shared with her family and friends. She is survived by her husband Jack, daughter Jacquelyn Labrie Pulido (Pasadena, CA), daughter Jenae (Tim) Labrie-Smith (Encinitas, CA), grandson Benjamin Labrie-Smith, granddaughter Haley Labrie-Smith, great-granddaughter Kinsley, great-grandson Teddy, granddaughter Hannah (Labrie-Smith) Case (Griffen) and son Joe (Kathleen) Labrie (Appleton, WI), granddaughter Maia Labrie, grandson Justin Labrie, granddaughter Nicole Labrie, and granddaughter Josie Labrie.
We will celebrate Linda’s life at St. Bede Catholic Church in La Canada Flintridge, California, on Saturday, July 15, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. with a reception directly following. Linda will be laid to rest at Mountain View Cemetery in Columbus, Montana, at an interment memorial celebration on Saturday, July 22, at 10:30 a.m. followed by a reception for family and friends.
